Are the Lions looking at history again? – Week 10 NFL TV Schedule

It has been quite the gut punch for the Detroit Lions and their fans this season.  Tough losses that probably shouldn’t have happened and otherwise terrible performance on the field under first-year head coach Dan Campbell.  And do things look any better the rest of the way?  Let’s see.  This is what they are looking at the rest of the season:

• at Pittsburgh
• at Cleveland
• vs. Chicago
• vs. Minnesota
• at Denver
• vs. Arizona
• at Atlanta
• at Seattle
• vs. Green Bay

Are there any real possible victories here?  Their best chances are against the Bears, Vikings, and Falcons and those aren’t guarantees.  Knowing their luck they will play a Packers team that’s already in the playoffs and playing all their backups and they end up with a tie to avoid being the only 0-17 team ever.  The Lions stand a game behind the woeful Houston Texans and a game-and-a-half behind Miami who has been much worse than advertised.  Not saying they are a lock for the #1 pick in the next draft but man, Kayvon Thibodaux better figure out if he looks good in light blue and silver.  Could this be worse than the 2008 Lions team that went 0-16?  I’d say it’s a bit more surprising since no one thought this team would be this bad whereas the 2008 version was brutal and many in the NFL media struggled to find more than three wins for them in preseason predictions.

Now the NFL season hasn’t been as crazy as the college one.  It’s not like the Washington Football Team is 8-0 or anything like that.  There is definitely more parity in the pros.  But this will be a story throughout the season until Jared Goff, who has been an unmitigated disaster after being acquired for Matthew Stafford, picks up his game and hopefully leads the Lions to a win.  Anyway, enough of the Lions, let’s get to the schedule for this week…which includes the Lions.

Thursday Night

Baltimore at Miami

8:20, FOX, TSN1, CTV Two

Sunday Early

Buffalo at NY Jets	Buffalo, Rochester		Toronto
Cleveland at New England	All affiliates (except Buffalo & Rochester)		All affiliates (except Kitchener & Toronto)		London, Toronto
New Orleans at Tennessee
Jacksonville at Indianapolis
Atlanta at Dallas		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Rochester			Vancouver Island, Alberta
Detroit at Pittsburgh		Detroit	Kitchener		Ottawa
Tampa Bay at Washington		Burlington		TSN1, TSN3	Atlantic

Sunday Late

Seattle at Green Bay	All affiliates		All affiliates (except Winnipeg & Atlantic)		Atlantic
Philadelphia at Denver
Minnesota at LA Chargers		Minneapolis, Buffalo, Boston	Winnipeg	TSN1, TSN3
Carolina at Arizona

Sunday/Monday Primetime

Kansas City at Las Vegas	Sunday, 8:20, NBC, TSN 1/3/5, CTV Two
LA Rams at San Francisco	Monday, 8:15, TSN 1/2/3

Stuff that may or may not include the Detroit Lions

• Two very intriguing games in the Sunday and Monday night spots.  Other than the Rams, these four teams aren’t great but the rivalries are huge.  And both games are important because they are divisional games.  Sometimes you check the schedule and see that the NFL set up the end of their week perfectly and this is one of those times.
• It’s cross-flex time on steroids!  If this doesn’t convince the networks to forget this whole stupid NFC-AFC network split I don’t know what will.  CBS gets THREE cross-flexed games, with two of them being their only two games in the afternoon window.  There are only three games that normally would be on CBS this week which has to be an all-time low.  Can we be done with this?  Go with my idea of doing a draft for the games and be done with it.  NFL Network would televise it so they would have a ton of content.  Give the network execs and the NFL Network crew an open bar and all the pizza they can eat and have at it.  Do I have to come up with all the ideas?
• The Thursday nighter looks….pretty god damn awful.  The Dolphins are terrible and the Ravens are a fair amount better.  Now watch the game be a barnburner that ends on an overtime safety.
• Four games not appearing on Canadian TV this Sunday.  Two in each timeslot.  The early timeslot is almost never an issue because they are quite a few games.  Having only two of the four scheduled late games to appear up here is a problem if both games end up being terrible.  I mean TSN could have picked up one of the two games but that makes too much sense.

Hey, let’s look at the updated playoffs (if they started today):

#1 – Tennessee	#1 – Arizona
#2 – Baltimore	#2 – Green Bay
#3 – LA Chargers	#3 – Tampa Bay
#4 – Buffalo	#4 – Dallas
Wild Cards:	Wild Cards:
#5 – Las Vegas	#5 – LA Rams
#6 – Pittsburgh	#6 – New Orleans
#7 – New England/Kansas City/Cleveland/Cincinnati/Denver	#7 – Atlanta

We are now past the midway mark of the season.  The teams near the top are starting to separate from the teams who are on the outside looking in right now.  At this point, you can honestly say the Cardinals, Packers, Buccaneers, Rams and Titans would be the Super Bowl favourites.  It does fall off a cliff in the NFC after the top 6 yet again.  The Falcons in the #7 spot?  Ugh.  As for the AFC, the Wild Card race looks like it is going to be…well, wild.  Five teams tied for the final spot with the Colts one game out makes for an exciting race to the end.  As for the bottom of the standing, I have already discussed how bad the Lions are.  The Texans, Dolphins, Jaguars, Jets and Football Team are in the race for #2 at this juncture.  No one is technically eliminated yet but those teams are pretty much done and looking at next season.

Still wondering if I should get my snow tires on.  I mean it’s mid-November but we haven’t seen any snow yet which is kind of the point of having SNOW tires.  Oh well I will figure it out I’m sure.  In the meantime, I will enjoy copious amounts of football on my television screen.  Everyone have a great weekend!

The UT-OU-SEC Affair…YEAH BUT WHOSE SIDE ARE THEY ON?

Pretty much every wrestling fan knows that quote from the great Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. The night we were introduced to the New World Order. And yet, Heenan’s disdain for Hulk Hogan coming down the aisle to supposedly save WCW couldn’t be muzzled.

That brings us to what has happened just recently. A couple of events have happened. I’m still trying to determine the order but here they are:

• The University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma have reached out to the SEC about possibly joining their conference.
• The Big XII asked their member schools to sign an extension of the conference’s media rights contracts to go through 2020. Texas declined meaning the extension couldn’t be done.

I am guessing the second point happened first but I haven’t seen anything that points to the order of occurrences. So you know what this means….REALIGNMENT TALK!!!!! This is not surprising at all since with conference TV contracts about to come to an end for quite a few conferences in the next few years, we had to know that there could be some realignment possibilities. But Texas and Oklahoma reaching out to the SEC? That’s an interesting wrinkle. Usually it’s the conference reaching out to the programs but this…this puts a whole new spin on things.

The New SEC?

So let’s say this does go through. What would the new SEC look like? Knowing the way these conferences are usually morons with this kind of thing, I’m sure it will look something like this:

East	West
Florida	Alabama
Georgia	Arkansas
Kentucky	LSU
Missouri	Mississippi State
South Carolina	Ole Miss
Tennessee	Texas A&M
Vanderbilt	Oklahoma
Auburn	Texas

Auburn would end up moving to the East Division with Oklahoma and Texas slotting into the West. There are other variations on this, including just putting Oklahoma in the East and Texas in the West, and moving BOTH Alabama and Auburn to the East and having Missouri move to the West with Oklahoma and Texas. The other idea that seems to be floating around with various experts is the pod system. It’s stupid but people seem to love it. Four pods of four teams where you would play everyone in your pod once, every team in another pod once and then one or two other teams to complete your conference schedule.

I have a better idea though. No fucking divisions. At all. Have each team have up to three protected matchups every season. Then the rest of the games are decided based on where they were in the standings the previous season. Like the #1 team could face their 3 protected opponents, plus games against #2, #4, #7, #10, #11 and #13 to make their nine-game conference schedule (which I wouldn’t be surprised if the SEC went with). Have it set so we know what each spot would face every season. Then swap games out because of the protected opponents and voila! A good schedule that works every season. And gets rid of the stupid divisions which have basically run its course in college football.

Call Your Bluff?

Are both schools bluffing? Is one bluffing and taking the other along for a ride? It wouldn’t be the first time (in a way). The Texahoma Four were headed to the Pac-12 and then all of a sudden we had the Longhorn Network. And by we, I mean college football fans in Texas. So not really “we” at all.

But could both schools be trying to get something for them in the conference that’s advantageous to the other eight more than what they have now? Is Texas trying to do something to really keep the Longhorn Network? Could Oklahoma be setting up their own Sooner Network? There could be other things afloat that Texas and Oklahoma want and the only way to do it is to reach out on their own to the SEC to make the Big XII do what they want. We can call it Gonzagaing.

Does This Make Sense?

Does it make sense that Oklahoma and Texas go to the SEC? Possibly. If it starts the process of breaking the Power conferences (however many there may be) off from FBS then it would be perfect for both programs. If it’s to get more money through TV then of course it is (although the new ESPN/ABC deal with the SEC might have to be adjusted).

Honestly this is probably a good idea for Oklahoma. Texas? Maybe not. I would have figured they would get a better deal becoming an Independent. They keep the LHN, possibly look for a deal to show most of their own home games on another network (CBS perhaps?) and basically become Notre Dame’s Independent running mate. Depending on how the 12-team playoff is structured, it may even be advantageous to the Longhorns to go this route.

Will The SEC Accept Both Teams?

“No.” – Texas A&M.

“Yes” – the rest of the teams, probably.

What About the Rest of the Big XII?

Two ways look at this: invite a bunch of teams to replace the two departing programs or every program for themselves to finish off the Big XII.

The first way seems like the easier way to solve things. Problem is, this is something that should have been done years ago the first time teams may have left the conference. Now it could be a lot tougher. The Big XII could try and poach Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado out of the Pac-12. They could add Boise State and BYU. They could look at Cincinnati or UCF (or both). There are plenty of options. Now, if the Big XII decides to pull the trigger, will these schools accept? The Pac-12 four I mentioned might not. Even the other four schools listed might balk or at least hesitate. Realignment isn’t as cut and dry anymore if Texas and Oklahoma do lead for the SEC as the conferences below the aforementioned SEC and the Big Ten in the pecking order wouldn’t be considered as powerful anymore.

Which leads us to the second way where every program jumps off the Big XII life raft and swims for whatever conference ship will pick them up. What chaos would that give us? Let’s take a look:

Kansas – almost a guarantee for the Big Ten. You laugh but their basketball program is LUCRATIVE and the B1G would pick them up in a heartbeat. Yes they have some issues with potential NCAA infractions but still probably the best of an odd bunch.

West Virginia – they would almost beg to go to the ACC and I could see the ACC taking the plunge. They fit better there than in the Big XII anyway.

Texas Tech & Oklahoma State – they would also be doing a bit of begging. Maybe. The Pac-12 might move into Texas and Oklahoma with those two teams to become the Pac-14. It also would give them three time zones to work with which would make them automatically a hell of a lot more lucrative to FOX.

TCU & Baylor – as much as they would like to say “hey it could be the Pac-16 with us” it probably won’t happen. Doubtful they would take these two Texas schools with their religious affiliations if they can get Texas Tech.

Kansas State & Iowa State – good fucking luck. The AAC probably picks them up or they go the Mountain West route since there probably isn’t much else for them out there.

Or An Alliance?

Could the Big XII and AAC form a new conference with as many teams as possible? It’s….possible. Realistically they could take the eight left, take eight more from the AAC and there’s your new conference that’s on a tier of its own, below the Power conferences but a good step higher than the Group of Five. Sorry to East Carolina, Tulsa and Temple but you might be on the outside looking in for this scenario. It would cause upheaval elsewhere as the Mountain West, Sun Belt and Conference USA would all be watching closely to see if any programs need a home and fit in their conference.

What About TV?

I honestly don’t know what happens to the ESPN/ABC deal with the SEC that’s on top of the current ESPN/ABC deal with the SEC. Plus there’s the SEC Network to factor in. The conference network probably won’t show more games later on in the season than the three they normally show. Meaning Disney gets more inventory from the SEC. Which then in turn means other conferences get pushed out a bit. If the Pac-12 is smart, they may do what I had mentioned above, grab TTU and OSU and show FOX they are worth a lot more. This would also push the Big XII to extinction meaning one less conference to share timeslots with.

The Big Ten will also be the one to watch here. They won’t be happy with getting a lot less in terms of ABC primetime games. They could also push FOX to give them better timeslots also. The Mountain West could be somewhat squeezed out of potential network games before they even got into much of their new contract with the network.

Anyway, let’s be honest: this has opened up a lot of possibilities and a ton of questions. We probably would have been better served with this not happening a month before the college football season begins. Couldn’t Texas and Oklahoma have called the SEC in, say, April?

If I Could Fix The Postseason Version 1

Normally this would be my post where I run the bowl games in my vision.  I did it five times.  Don’t believe me?  Here they are: here, here, here, here, and finally, here.  But with what happened in the past couple weeks, I figured re-doing the bowl games means less than it ever has.  So I decided I should fix the entire postseason instead!  Spoiler alert: this is going to be a long post.

Scenario #1

Where to start.  Let’s start with expanding the playoff.  It’s going to happen, we all know it.  But not until the 2026 season.  There is almost no way they would change it before the contract ends.  Then again, who knows after the year we all went through.

First, the format.  I have heard a ton of people saying different ideas of how many teams should be in.  Most people say 8, but I have heard 6, 12, 16, and even 24.  24?  Get the fuck outta here.  Anyway, I have decided on 10.  I think having a Top 10 has a certain ring to it and really, at the #9 and #10 spots, you are stretching for a deserving contender.  So for this crazy season the rankings would look like this:

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Notre Dame
5. Texas A&M
6. Oklahoma
7. Florida
8. Cincinnati
9. Georgia
10. Iowa State

Sorry Indiana.  And sorry Coastal Carolina.  I love both of those teams this year but you have to cut it off somewhere.  Besides, this was a weird year.  So this would lead to the following schedule (during a normal season, not this fucked up one):

• First round games – December 12th (one before and one after the Army-Navy game).  The games would be Florida vs. Iowa State and Cincinnati vs. Georgia.
• Quarter-Finals – December 19th (if things work out you get four games in all on the same day…if not, one moves to Friday night…which is what would have happened this year).  Ohio State vs. Oklahoma and Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M are set here.  Alabama would get the lowest-ranked winner, whereas Clemson would get the other winner from the first round.
• Semi-Finals – New Year’s Day @ the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl (at 4:00 PM and 8:00 PM, respectively)
• National Championship – January 11th

I would use the other four New Year’s Six bowls for the quarter-finals.  For the first round matchups, you can either have them on campus (preferred) or, if they absolutely want them in bowl games, I would nominate the Sun Bowl and Citrus Bowl.  One in the east and one in the west and two of the longest-lasting bowl games.

As for the rest of the bowl games and their tie-ins, here is what I would propose:

January 2, 2020	10:30 PM	Holiday Bowl	Pac-12	MWC Champ
January 2, 2020	7:00 PM	Independence Bowl	C-USA Champ	SEC
January 2, 2020	3:30 PM	Liberty Bowl	AAC	ACC
January 2, 2020	Noon	Outback Bowl	SEC	Big Ten
January 1, 2020	Noon	Gator Bowl	AAC Champ	ACC
December 31, 2019	10:30 PM	Las Vegas Bowl	Pac-12	Big XII
December 31, 2019	7:00 PM	Little Caesar’s Bowl	MAC Champ	Big Ten
December 31, 2019	3:30 PM	Guaranteed Rate Bowl	Pac-12	at-large
December 31, 2019	Noon	Cheez-It Bowl	ACC	at-large
December 30, 2019	7:30 PM	Alamo Bowl	Big XII	Sun Belt Champ
December 30, 2019	4:00 PM	Idaho Potato Bowl	at-large	Big Ten
December 30, 2019	12:30 PM	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	ACC	Big Ten
December 29, 2019	8:30 PM	LendingTree Bowl	SEC	at-large
December 29, 2019	5:00 PM	Music City Bowl	SEC	C-USA
December 29, 2019	1:30 PM	New Orleans Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 26, 2019	8:00 PM	Redbox Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 26, 2019	4:30 PM	Armed Forces Bowl	Big XII	at-large
December 26, 2019	1:00 PM	Texas Bowl	Big XII	Sun Belt
December 24, 2019	8:00 PM	Hawaii Bowl	MWC	at-large
December 23, 2019	8:30 PM	Birmingham Bowl	AAC	MAC
December 22, 2019	9:00 PM	New Mexico Bowl	MWC	Pac-12

Now with more at-large teams, bowl game committees can have a better chance of creating better matchups.  The Power Five conferences get more tie-ins than the Group of Five conferences.  And the main thing?  Just like when I ran the bowl games, the Group of Five conference champs get their shot at a Power Five team in a bowl game.  If a G-5 conference champion is in the Top 10, they get replaced with the second-best team.  All this is a lot like my earlier posts.  Now let’s get to the next way of fixing the postseason.

Scenario #2

If you are old enough, you remember what things were like three-plus decades ago.  There were less bowl games but most of them weren’t on ESPN.  Crazy, right?  Hell, there were always at least 15 Independent teams at the top level, which was called Division 1-A back then.  So let’s go back to that.  It’s Poll n’ Bowl time!

How are we going to do this?  Easy.  Every bowl game is just that: a bowl game.  But after the bowl games are done, they do what should have been done and had been talked about for years:  The Plus-One.  So after the bowls are done, the next day, the #1 and #2 teams would be announced and they would face off for the national championship.  It could have solved a few odd seasons, most notably, 1984 and 1990.  Let’s look at how all the bowls would look with this kind of setup:

January 2, 2020	8:00 PM	Cotton Bowl	1 of top 4 at-large teams	1 of top 4 at-large teams
January 2, 2020	4:00 PM	Fiesta Bowl	1 of top 4 at-large teams	1 of top 4 at-large teams
January 1, 2020	8:00 PM	Sugar Bowl	SEC Champ	Big XII Champ
January 1, 2020	4:00 PM	Rose Bowl	Big Ten Champ	Pac-12 Champ
January 1, 2020	Noon	Orange Bowl	ACC Champ	SEC
December 31, 2019	7:00 PM	Liberty Bowl	Sun Belt Champ	SEC
December 31, 2019	3:30 PM	Sun Bowl	Big XII	Pac-12
December 31, 2019	Noon	Citrus Bowl	SEC	Big Ten
December 30, 2019	10:30 PM	Holiday Bowl	MWC Champ	Pac-12
December 30, 2019	7:00 PM	Peach Bowl	SEC	ACC
December 30, 2019	3:30 PM	Independence Bowl	ACC	AAC
December 30, 2019	Noon	Outback Bowl	Big Ten	at-large
December 29, 2019	10:30 PM	Las Vegas Bowl	Pac-12	at-large
December 29, 2019	7:00 PM	Little Caesar’s Bowl	MAC Champ	Big Ten
December 29, 2019	3:30 PM	Guaranteed Rate Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 29, 2019	Noon	Gator Bowl	AAC Champ	ACC
December 26, 2019	10:30 PM	Redbox Bowl	Big Ten	Pac-12
December 26, 2019	7:00 PM	Alamo Bowl	C-USA Champ	Big XII
December 26, 2019	3:30 PM	Idaho Potato Bowl	MWC	at-large
December 26, 2019	Noon	Cheez-It Bowl	AAC	at-large
December 24, 2019	8:00 PM	Hawaii Bowl	MWC	at-large
December 23, 2019	7:30 PM	Music City Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 22, 2019	8:00 PM	LendingTree Bowl	C-USA	at-large
December 19, 2019	10:30 PM	New Mexico Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 19, 2019	7:00 PM	Texas Bowl	Big XII	at-large
December 19, 2019	3:30 PM	New Orleans Bowl	Sun Belt	at-large
December 19, 2019	Noon	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	ACC	at-large
December 18, 2019	8:30 PM	Armed Forces Bowl	at-large	at-large
December 17, 2019	8:00 PM	Birmingham Bowl	MAC	at-large

Let me summarize:

• The 5 Power Five champs get into the Rose, Sugar and Orange Bowls, due to their tie-ins.
• The 5 Group of Five champs get a game against a Power Five opponent.
• The top 4 at-large teams would play in the Cotton and Fiesta Bowls.  If a Group of Five champ is one of these top four teams, they would play in one of those two bowls and would be replaced as conference champ by the second best team in their conference.
• ALL games get national viewings.  No shared timeslots.  These are supposed to be showcase games.  Make them that way.
• Bringing back more at-large bids allows bowl game committees to get better games.  This isn’t rocket appliances.

So on January 3rd, the “Rankings Show” would happen.  I would time it to go at Noon so that it doesn’t interfere with the final week of the NFL.  This is where the final rankings are given, and the announcement of the national championship game between the top two teams.  Not exactly the BCS, but allows teams to play for the title on the field (more so at least).

For this season, the top bowl games would look like this:

January 2, 2020	8:00 PM	Cotton Bowl	Florida	Cincinnati
January 2, 2020	4:00 PM	Fiesta Bowl	Notre Dame	Georgia
January 1, 2020	8:00 PM	Sugar Bowl	Alabama	Oklahoma
January 1, 2020	4:00 PM	Rose Bowl	Ohio State	Oregon
January 1, 2020	Noon	Orange Bowl	Clemson	Texas A&M

Then, after Bama blows the doors off the Sooners and Clemson wins a relatively close one over TAMU, the Tide and Tigers would get picked for the championship so nothing would change but it would still give a bit of a blast from the past (and some tradition) while keeping the idea that the top two teams should meet on the field for the title game.

Scenario #3

Now the final possibility.  Let’s be honest here: the Group of Five is probably never getting a shot to be in the College Football Playoff unless they have a historically amazing season, along with at least two wins over Power Five teams in convincing fashion.  Last time a team would have been seriously considered is a decade ago.  The 2010 TCU Horned Frogs were an unbelievable team who mopped the floor with every team they faced except one and was selected for the Rose Bowl as the #3 team in the nation.

For this reason, it’s time the Group of Five have their own playoffs.  Yes, I know the arguments against this.  People say the ratings will be down.  People say the teams won’t care.  People say the fans won’t care.  I think these arguments are overblown to be honest.  If this was all the case, no one would watch the FCS Playoffs.  Yet they do.  So these games would get TV viewers and fans, as long as they aren’t treated like shit by the broadcasters.

How many teams would qualify?  To begin, I think you start relatively low.  Otherwise you diminish not just the reason for this to exist but the games being shown.  I am putting the amount of teams at eight.  This is not a case where all conference champions are included.  This would go based on AP Poll rankings.  Also, I am including all the Independent teams, except Notre Dame.  So this is what we would have:

• Quarter-final #1: Army at Cincinnati
• Quarter-final #2: Liberty at Coastal Carolina
• Quarter-final #3: Tulsa at BYU
• Quarter-final #4: San Jose State at Louisiana

Sorry to the MAC and Conference USA but no teams would have qualified here.  I think with the proper networks and timeslots, this would work.  The rest of the Group of Five teams can participate in bowl games if they are invited.

So there you go.  Are any of these better than the current system?  Yes.  It’s not even a debate anymore.  And people can say all they want about teams deserving or not deserving certain things.  But it’s not 1990 anymore.  People can create change if enough of them want it.  And if college football continues on this route, the next big TV contract won’t be as large as many believe it will be.  By that time, it might be too late to fix things and an overhaul will need to take place.  This isn’t really an overhaul, it’s just a postseason adjustment.  Tweaks.  The powers that be can do this.  They just choose not to for monetary purposes.

Let’s talk about bacon – Week 6 College Football Recap

If you know what you are looking at then chances are your blood may be already starting to boil.  If not, let me explain.

Late in the Arkansas-Auburn game, Arkansas had the lead but Auburn was driving for a score, only needing a field goal to win.  The play above is where things really go off the rails.  Bo Nix takes the snap and immediately fumbles it.  He picks it up and then immediately spikes it.  First of all, you can’t do that in college football.  That’s considered intentional grounding.  What’s worse is that Nix spiked it behind his foot.  So that is a backwards pass…a lateral if you will.  At this point, a few officials blow their electronic whistles, one official definitely doesn’t, and one official throws a bean bag.  In the aftermath of this, an Arkansas player eventually recovers the ball.  So of course this is chaos already.

The referee calls it intentional grounding.  Of course many know that there is more to this than that.  And some are perplexed because the NFL does not have that rule about fumbling the snap (as far as I know).  The play gets reviewed.  It is pretty obvious the spike was behind Nix so it’s technically a fumble.  What does the replay official conclude?  He sticks with the call of intentional grounding, basically to bail out the officials on the field.  What a fucking joke.  According to Terry McAulay, retired official who does the rules for Sunday Night Football, said that because the Arkansas player continued to play through the whistle to recover the ball and that an Auburn player also continued to play at that point, that the whistle is irrelevant and that Arkansas should have been considered to have had an immediate recovery.  Instead, Auburn gets their chance at the field goal and hits it to win, robbing the Hogs of a deserved win.  So the SEC doubles down hours later about the rules.  And probably nothing will happen to either the replay official or the officiating team on the field.  This was not a missed call that was bad but really didn’t affect the outcome of the game.  It certainly did.  And Arkansas will not get the win they deserve.  Sad.

As for the rest of the weekend it was the best weekend so far.  A low bar for sure but there was a lot of exciting football.  Kept me glued to the TV for over 11 hours.  Let’s get down to recapping all this shall we?

And now for the rest of the recap

• A great game down in College Station this past weekend.  Texas A&M won over Florida in a game many would call an upset.  I have to agree especially since Florida was a Top 5 team and I picked the Aggies to win in an upset (which makes me feel good).  Instead the Aggies gutted out a last-second walk-off field goal win and now their College Football Playoff aspirations are legit.  As for Florida, ugh….  When you think they are about to be a threat to Georgia in the SEC East, something like this happens.  It definitely won’t be easy for the Aggies the rest of the way in the SEC West but if they can somehow win out, then you have to take them seriously.  Also good for Jimbo Fisher for finally getting a signature win as the Aggies head coach.
• Another upset occurred early in the day in a game that had to be moved because of Hurricane Delta (Burke?).  Missouri held on to beat the defending champs from LSU in a game moved from Baton Rouge to Columbia.  Everyone kind of knew the Tigers (of LSU) weren’t the same team but many their defense has looked terrible so far.  But you have to give Mizzou some credit.  If it wasn’t for them finally finding a starting quarterback in freshman Connor Bazelak, this game would have been an easy LSU win.  I am positive now that there will be rumblings of Ed Orgeron being fired because it’s college football and many fans are shitty people.
• How about that game down in the other Death Valley (or the first Death Valley depending on which Tigers you prefer)?  Many felt the Canes would have a chance against Clemson.  Man were they ever fucking wrong.  This was not close, in any way, shape, or form.  Clemson just looks that much better than everyone in the conference.  Saying that, they do have new conference mate (for this season), Notre Dame later in the season which should be a banger.  As for Miami, they should still be fine.  It’s one blemish but they can work their way back into the New Year’s Six pretty easily if they run the table the rest of the way.  OK so pretty easily is a strong term.
• And there is the unluckiness that is Pitt.  It was the Pittening yet again.  Kicker Alex Kessman made a 58-yard field goal with 40 seconds left just to send their game with Boston College into overtime.  Then, after BC had scored a TD and Pitt scored one of their own, Kessman missed the extra point.  You can’t make this stuff up.   Poor guy probably wanted to crawl under the turf at that point.
• Alabama beat Ole Miss.  OK not a big deal.  What was amazing was Lane cutting the brakes off his offense and going nuts with it.  And it worked.  The Tide could not keep up with the Rebel offense.  It’s too bad the Rebel defense was equally as bad.  Although let’s be honest: Alabama’s offense is seriously good.  Not quite Clemson good, but arguably the best in the SEC.  And now Evil Nick Saban is 21-0 against his former assistants.  The student has not surpassed the teacher yet.
• Let history show that the Tennessee football Volunteers led Georgia 21-17 at the half in this game. Again, the Vols allowed the the Dawgs to close out the game on a huge run, this one 27 points, but it’s still not a bad thing to see the Vols at least somewhat competitive.  They may be a year or two away from contending in the SEC East but the fans can see the light at the end of that tunnel.  Now they just have to allow Jeremy Pruitt to continue to improve things in Knoxville and it will work out (possibly).
• I didn’t think Florida State could keep it close.  Like not at all.  But they were surprisingly effective until late in the second quarter.  But the Irish were still way too much for the Noles.  They are a legit contender to go to the ACC Championship.  Mike Norvell is struggling so far at Tallahassee and it will be interesting to see if he gets the same amount of chances as Willie Taggart got before he was dumped.
• Back to games that were completely bonkers, look no further than the Red River Shootout.  And a shootout it was.  This game went to four overtimes and it felt like neither team wanted to win despite the fact they were putting up some gaudy stats.  Finally, Spencer Rattler didn’t fuck up and Sam Ehlinger couldn’t get it done and the Sooners pulled off the victory.  Still, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see neither of these two teams in the Big XII Championship in December.
• That Virginia Tech-North Carolina game was more of a Big XII game than pretty much all the Big XII games on Saturday.  A hilariously poor showing of defense on both teams’ accounts.  North Carolina was able to pull away late but it wasn’t pretty.  The Tar Heels can’t afford to be like that on the defensive side of the ball when they play Notre Dame later on in the season or it could be a long day for Mack Brown and the boys from Chapel Hill.
• Don’t sleep on the BYU Cougars.  The Cougars are 4-0 and look like they will probably be 7-0 when they get into November and their game against Boise State.  They are solidly in the Top 25 but will need to win and win big to move up the rankings.  Winning by a touchdown over UTSA won’t cut it, despite the fact the Roadrunners are going to be at least a contender to go bowling if not an outside shot at being a thorn in UAB’s side for the Conference USA West crown.
• Iowa State keeps trundling along in the Big XII after that horrible opening loss to what is really a good Louisiana team.  The way things are going, it wouldn’t surprise me (and shouldn’t surprise others) if the Cyclones were heading to Dallas for the Big XII Championship in about two months.
• What the hell happened at Mississippi State?  They looked great two weeks ago against LSU and then can’t do anything in their previous game and were even worse at Kentucky.  300 yards passing and 2 points.  So of course Mike Leach is already starting to blame some of the players.  This usually takes like two or three seasons to occur: it’s happening in two weeks in Starkville.  Yikes.
• Another great game just happened to be Temple’s first game of the season.  No I’m not kidding.  And they played the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of college football, Navy.  Navy doesn’t know if they want to be good or they’re really fucking bad.  All I know is this ended up being a close finish after Navy took a fairly large lead and then allowed the Owls to crawl their way back for a chance to tie late.  I am sure Ken Niumatalolo secretly drinks heavily after games like this.
• USF…what can you say?  They got throttled by East Carolina.  Yes, the East Carolina football Pirates.  The Bulls are so bad that when I tweeted about them being bad, a few people replied and agreed and they’re USF FANS!  Wow.
• Finally, Charlotte took down North Texas.  That’s not really news.  The news is about the graphics used on the ESPN scoreboard.  Charlotte has a C with a pickaxe in the middle of it.  North Texas has UNT with an eagle.  Yes, it was a C followed by a UNT.

Alright that was seriously fun.  And soon enough we will get college football that lasts past 2 in the morning, like God intended it.  Oh man, there goes my sleep, which has already been bad but is about to get much worse.

Alright, let’s now look at the Bossman Top 25:

#1	Clemson
#2	Georgia
#3	Alabama
#4	North Carolina
#5	Notre Dame
#6	Ohio State
#7	Oklahoma State
#8	Florida
#9	Cincinnati
#10	Auburn
#11	Miami
#12	Penn State
#13	BYU
#14	Oregon
#15	Texas A&M
#16	Tennessee
#17	Wisconsin
#18	SMU
#19	Louisiana
#20	Michigan
#21	Iowa State
#22	Virginia Tech
#23	Kansas State
#24	Marshall
#25	Minnesota

Yes there are some differences between my rankings and the AP Poll, as usual.  I have Georgia at #2 and Notre Dame down at #5.  The Irish should move up just for the fact that I doubt we will have two SEC teams in the top three (I hope).  As for #6 through #12, pick the teams out of a hat to figure out the order.  A lot can happen the rest of the way and at this point, no one team is that much better than another.  And how about Marshall at #24.  I know the AP Poll doesn’t have them in there but man they deserve to be there in my humble opinion.  Also, yes I have BYU at #13.  It sounds like they probably won’t move that much further up from there but they are still undefeated and shouldn’t fall unless they lose.

Hey guess what we have?  FUN BELT!  Yes, weekday Sun Belt action is back and it starts on Wednesday night.  8:00 but who knows if Canadians can get it.  And it’s a big one.  Coastal Carolina and Louisiana.  I love weekday football.  Honestly, and I know I rail on the NFL being on Thursday but between late August and early January, the more football the better.  Have a good week everyone!

I better get myself ready for a lot of late Saturday nights…

Sunday morning.  2:30 am.  This is what I am looking at for fourteen weeks in a row.  Oh wait, that’s not true.  The final regular season week has a game between Army and Hawaii that STARTS at 1:30 in the morning.  Good fucking God.  I mean I will try my best to watch it since I am not the sharpest tool in the shed but that may break me…for a day.  Then the next week I will go back to watching more college football.  And why?  Because COLLEJ FOOTBAW!

Now I am going to touch on a somewhat touchy subject: realignment.  Wait, don’t leave!  Look, the Mountain West has dropped to #2 in the Group of Five rankings and the American dropping UConn has made them better (at least in football).  The MWC will probably wait to see what happens with the American in 2020.  Will they add teams or won’t they?  So does the MWC get proactive?  And with whom?  That becomes the problem.  There still seems to be real animosity between the Mountain West and BYU.  And on top of that, the rumours are that the conference may CONTRACT and not expand.  San Jose State is a problem in almost every sport (but especially football) and Hawaii will always be a logistical nightmare of sorts.  Thank God Alaska doesn’t have a football team in the FBS.  So if they drop to ten do they become more of a valuable conference and add at that point to strengthen?  Too many questions at this point but the fact is this: at some point, a big ball will drop and it will cause a major ripple effect.  It’s up to the Mountain West if they want to be in front of that and take a risk or be behind it and hope they weren’t, well, left behind.

Anyway, let’s get on to the conference predictions followed by some Caffeine-Induced Hallucinations (and potentially Lucid Thoughts):

		Conference		Overall
	Mountain	W	L	W	L
	Boise State	8	0	11	1
	Utah State	6	2	9	3
	Wyoming	4	4	6	6
	Air Force	4	4	6	6
	New Mexico	1	7	3	9
	Colorado State	1	7	2	10
	West
	San Diego State	7	1	9	3
	Fresno State	7	1	10	2
	Nevada	3	5	5	7
	Hawaii	3	5	5	8
	UNLV	2	6	3	9
	San Jose State	1	7	2	10

Caffeine-Induced Hallucinations (and potentially Lucid Thoughts)

• Boise State is the favourite to win the Mountain Division but they aren’t overwhelming favourites.  Will they win out?  Probably not.  I see them losing to a much-improved Florida State team.  Other than that?  They play BYU and Utah State on the road so those could be issues but nothing else that would be considered difficult.  So no I wouldn’t be super surprised if they won out but they have a habit of losing a game they should win in conference play.
• Hey look who’s at the top of the West Division!  Oh wait it’s the same two teams that have been there for the better part of the last decade (give or take a year or two).  No other teams are really that close to the Bulldogs or Aztecs.  Really, the game between these two teams on November 15th is the de facto MWC West Division Championship.
• Sorry folks.  Air Force isn’t contending for a division title.  Nevada also won’t be contending for a division title.  Enough of that crazy talk.
• San Jose State will be, as per usual, terrible.  New Mexico probably will still be a trainwreck.  Colorado State will not improve that much.  And UNLV is just waiting to get into the air conditioning.  Honestly, all four of these head coaches should be shitcanned.  I put the over/under at 1.5.
• I don’t see an upset in the Mountain West Championship.  The Broncos should be able to easily dispatch the Aztecs in the title game.  Will they make the New Year’s Six?  Ah, no.  No they won’t.  Second-best Group of Five team behind Memphis this season.
• Six bowl teams from the conference.  With no New Year’s Six team this would mean the appropriate amount of teams to fill all the bowl slots.  Like a nice puzzle.

This is the kind of post I would make at 3 in the morning if I was dumb enough to do that.  Not great, gets the point across, but when I look back at it I will marvel at the fact that it’s even in English.

Next up is the final set of conference previews.  The conference that is still basically Clemson and Thirteen Other Teams: the ACC.  They do have something new and shiny though.  Their brand new ACC Network debuts soon.  How this will appear in Canada I have no clue.  It should be relatively seamless which means it absolutely won’t be  Again, I get their are some obstacles, but if you were able to give people what they wanted on TV, then we wouldn’t have nearly as many of these issues.  Instead it’s like this country is stuck back in time.  It’s not that Bell and Rogers don’t get it:  they do.  They just prefer money.  For now.  They have to pivot at some point or otherwise their revenue may drop like a few hundred million, or 1% for those who prefer percentages.  Anyway, we are 12 days away from real live college football!  A little less than two weeks.  It’s right around the corner!  Have a great weekend, everyone!

#EarlyMorningPac12. Doesn’t have the same ring as #Pac12AfterDark.

Maybe we can go with #Pac12BaconAndEggs.  Or #Pac12Brunch.  Or #Pac12OmeletteWithCheese.  I don’t know.  Someone will come up with something catchy I’m sure.

This is not just rumour at this point.  Larry Scott, the Commissioner of the Pac-12, is seriously considering morning kickoff times for the Pac-12, which would include 9:00 am local time starts.  This could be a bit of a gamechanger for the conference considering FOX has stated that their Noon game will be the premier game of the week most weeks.  That bit of news was not good for the Pac-12 which is entirely in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones.  But deciding to kick off before noon locally would change that.  The SEC already does it at times with 11:00 am starts.  Same with the Big XII.  So let’s take a look at the issues surrounding this:

• The players – This might be a tiny bit difficult for the players to start this early in the morning.  It really isn’t like hockey or baseball or basketball when you’re younger when tournaments start in the morning (I have experienced that a few times this summer).  This would mean warmup would start around 8:00 or so meaning the players would have to be there no later than 7:00 I’m sure.  This is very early.
• The coaches – They never sleep so who gives a shit.
• Attendance – I can kind of understand this point since fans have to get to games really early.  This would hold more water if attendance wasn’t already an issue in many Pac-12 stadiums lately.  But it’s still an annoyance.
• Tailgating – This goes with the point above but even worse.  Not many people are drinking that early in the morning.  At least that’s what I’m going to tell myself.
• TV – This will be great for TV since networks will have more options for the Noon and early afternoon timeslots.
• Fans watching on TV – If you are used to watching NFL games in London then this will be just fine if you are on the left coast.
• Chris Petersen – If he’s not smiling at this then he’s a god damn hypocrite.

So there are pros and cons to this.  And it’s not like this would happen more than a handful of times a season.  For me, it doesn’t matter.  I am in the Eastern time zone so it’s not like I am watching games at an earlier time.  For fans out West it’s quite different.  There’s a lot to digest here but if the Pac-12 wants to stay relevant this may be a good idea to do, even if it’s just once or twice a season.  I mean the other way to promote the conference is to put a team in the College Football Playoff but the Pac-12 seems to struggle with that.

Which leads to the predictions!  Let’s get to those Pac-12 predictions followed by some Sunrise Speculations:

		Conference		Overall
	North	W	L	W	L
	Oregon	7	2	10	2
	Washington	6	3	9	3
	Stanford	6	3	8	4
	Washington State	6	3	9	3
	California	2	7	4	8
	Oregon State	0	9	1	11
	South
	Utah	8	1	11	1
	USC	6	3	7	5
	UCLA	6	3	7	5
	Arizona State	4	5	6	6
	Arizona	2	7	5	7
	Colorado	1	8	3	9

Sunrise Speculations

• Could all four California teams go bowling this season?  Last year I said yes and the two northern ones did and the two southern ones didn’t.  This year I would say Cal is the weak link in California and won’t go bowling.  UCLA finally gets back to being a team that bowls on a regular basis.  USC and Stanford will actually be in contention for division titles this season.  No, really!
• In the South, it feels like Utah is a step ahead of all the other teams.  No longer is the Pac-12 South a free-for-all as the Utes have everything in place for a second straight division championship and double-digit wins.
• Are the Ducks back?  I think so.  Justin Herbert returning for his senior season was massive for Nike U and the Pac-12 as this gives them another legitimate CFP contender.
• The top of the North division is, once again, a minefield which will make it so if a team makes it to the College Football Playoff they will have earned it.  Along with the Ducks, Stanford, Washington and Wazzu are all seriously good teams that could easily win the division title and no one would bat an eye.
• Oregon State is going to be awful again.  I mean at some point they have got to get better again but that looks a long way off.  Poor Beaver fans.
• So for the Pac-12 title game I have Utah defeating Oregon.  Do they go to the CFP?  Don’t want to spoil it for you so you will have to wait until about mid-to-late-August to find out although a 12-1 Utah would be a highly ranked team for sure.
• I see the Pac-12 getting eight bowl teams.  So two-thirds of the conference which seems to be the average for the Pac-12.

Next time we hit the halfway mark with the Big XII Conference.  Or as some people call it, the Oklahoma-Texas + Eight Conference.  Maybe this year we will have a different team at the top.

Alright, there is one more thing I have to add.  Florida-Miami is on ESPN on August 24th.  This means it will go to either TSN or the specialty pack.  For some reason, Rogers and Bell don’t show Week Zero games because fuck you that’s why.  Fingers crossed this ends up on TSN.  It should because it’s a huge game but we shall see.  25 days remaining!  It’s just around the corner.  Have a great week everyone!

Most Important Games of the 2019 College Football Season – Part Deux

It looks like we are getting closer to this.  I mean we won’t have NCAA 20 but NCAA 21 is not out of the question.  And all it took is for the NCAA to realize that maybe these players should earn some money on their likeness.  This would also solve the problem of stars getting the same as third-string guards.  So simple yet it took so damn long to figure this out.  Hopefully it pushes through and then I can get a new system to get the newest NCAA game.  Oh you can bet your bottom dollar I would get whatever new system it’s on.

So for the second straight year I feel like a complete moron.  I thought I was smart starting a day earlier than last year’s first CFB blog post.  So what happens yesterday?  A big schedule dump.  ESPN.  FOX.  CBS.  Hell, Stadium, Facebook, CBS Sports Network.  So much updating (although I will admit I had some right).  But the ones that were wrong…well, here are the updates for those:

• I had the Northwestern-Stanford game on the on FOX Sports One.  This game will now be at 4:00 on FOX.  This is a good thing to be wrong about, no?
• FIU-Tulane, the de facto best Group of Five game of Week 1, has been relegated to ESPN3.  Wow, that’s terrible.  It also means we can’t see it up here which may not be that big a loss to be honest with you.
• The OSU Bowl (Oklahoma and Oregon versions) is now not on the specialty pack.  It will be on FOX Sports One.  Had the time right, but the network wrong.  Damn.
• For the second straight year, I got a USC-Stanford game very wrong.  I had the game at 8 on FOX.  It is now on at 10:30 on the specialty pack.  Instead, FOX chose Buffalo-Penn State.  Yeah I don’t get it either.
• With WVU-Mizzou, I hilariously used 24-hour time to say that it was at 7:00.  That is wrong.  It is at noon.  It will probably still be on the specialty pack though so at least that is (probably) correct…probably.
• Arkansas-Ole Miss has moved to 7:30.  I had it 3:30.  Will still be specialty pack.
• I had a feeling that Oklahoma-UCLA might be picked up FOX.  And it was!  It will now air at 8:00.
• Stanford-UCF still will probably go to ABC but not at Noon anymore.  It has been moved to 3:30 which I am sure the people who bought tickets to that game are very happy about.
• We still can’t see Cy-Hawk but the time was moved from Noon to 4:00.

So to be honest it wasn’t THAT bad.  Now we get to what is truly speculative as 95% of games from Week 4 on have little to no information attached to them.  This is where I can REALLY screw things up.  So let’s begin shall we?

Week 4

Game of the Week: Notre Dame at Georgia (8:00, CBS) – CBS gets one primetime game a season (unless they lobby for 2 but it costs them).  Normally this is LSU-Alabama but this season they could not, in good conscience, let this one opportunity pass them by.  You can say whatever you want about the Fighting Irish but they deliver ratings and if this game lives up to the previous game these two teams, it should be massive.  It helps that the week that houses LSU-Bama is not a good week, schedule-wise, for the SEC.

Other Really Important Games: Auburn at Texas A&M (3:30, CBS) – First two games this week are CBS games.  Happens pretty much never and is a coup for the network.  The other thing that strikes me is this is happening and neither game involves Alabama.  Which I am sure someone will mention in the hype going into these two games.  Anyway, the winner keeps their shot at usurping the Tide while the loser probably hopes to go to the Outback Bowl.

Michigan at Wisconsin (Noon, FOX) – Last year, the game in this very spot was Notre Dame-Wake Forest.  Seriously.  Look it up if you want.  This is a deadly game for both teams so early on in the season.  The Big Ten is not known for having huge September conference games but here we are.  This feels like it is more important for Michigan because of two obvious facts: 1) they play in the very difficult Big Ten East which should be really good again this year, and 2) Ohio State fans won’t let them forget it if they lose.  I don’t know which is worse to be honest.

Oregon at Stanford (7:30, ABC) – At this point you still have to feel for the Oregon State Beavers.  They play these two teams, U-Dub, Wazzu and Cal every season.  They’d have to pay me a lot to even consider coaching for this program.  Not that that will be an issue but it has to be one of the toughest jobs in Power Five football.  This game here should be yet another classic between these two as (at one point) consensus 2020 #1 pick Justin Herbert faces off against a usually tough Stanford defense.  I’d love to say the winner has a leg up in the Pac-12 North but considering what happened last year, that is not a guarantee.

Michigan State at Northwestern (8:30, FOX) – This might be overshadowed by the above-mentioned Michigan-Wisky battle.  Also being on the late FOX broadcast might hurt a bit too.  Not sure it will go on this late but it is in Evanston which is Central Time Zone so who the hell knows.

Oklahoma State at Texas (7:00, specialty pack) – Will Texas be as good as last season?  There’s a good possibility yes so Tom Herman and his fancy grill can keep smiling at this point.  But you can never count out The Mullet.  Mike Gundy almost always has good teams and this year’s Cowboys should be better than last year’s so an upset is not impossible.  Sooner fans will be watching this one in earnest.

Tennessee at Florida (7:00, specialty pack) – It’s not “Is Texas Back?” anymore.  It’s “Is Tennessee back?”  Now that the Longhorns are good again, many are craving for the good ol’ days of the Vols being good as well.  Maybe once they apologize for shitcanning Phil Fulmer they can truly turn the corner since they have never really recovered from that.  No longer the Champions of Life, the Vols will try to eek out a new existence under second-year coach Jeremy Pruitt who will try to become another Kirby Smart.  Oh yeah, and Florida is in this and they will be good and have one of the best coaches in the land but who cares about that right?

Utah at USC (Friday, 9:00, FOX Sports One) – Can’t win em all right?  This may still move although it seems to be cemented on Friday night.  With no ESPN game on that night, it may appear there so who knows.  Even though it is Week Four it is still rather early to figure some of these things out.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: South Carolina at Missouri (Noon, TSN1) – This may essentially end up being an early season SEC East elimination game.  The loser here will have pretty much no shot at going to Atlanta on December 7th.  Also, this should be a pretty evenly-matched game.  Now watch it be a blowout.  Look it was either this or Cal-Ole Miss for this spot.  My options were thin.

Best Group of Five Game: Air Force at Boise State (Friday, 9:00, specialty pack) – You know, after one bad Air Force season many people, including myself, figured the Falcons would be that way for a while.  So what did Troy Calhoun do?  Just coach them to back-to-back good seasons.  And I am sure this year will be no different.  It is on the blue turf in Boise which is tough for any team but the AFA has done fairly well here in the past.

Worst Power Five Game: West Virginia at Kansas (3:30, FOX Sports One) – Let’s be honest: it will take a lot more than hiring Les Miles to turn this program around.  Even the hype of him arriving isn’t leading many to anoint Kansas as an up-and-coming team just yet.

Week 5

Game of the Week: Ohio State at Nebraska (8:30, FOX) – Not a bad week but not a great one as you can see by my choice of GOTW.  No earth-shattering potential games of the year this week (barring any upsets of course).  However, there is a caveat here:  if Scott Frost can somehow make this Husker team an 8 or 9-win team this season then watch out because this could be a prime candidate for a massive upset and season-changing game.  Or it could end up being a blowout.  Who knows.

Other Really Important Games: Mississippi State at Auburn (3:30, CBS) – CBS really racking up the good games early on in the season.  Brad Nessler must be so happy…now he just needs a close game to call, for once.  I wonder what these two programs would be like if they didn’t have Alabama in their division.  I am sure these fanbases have thought of that many times before as these two teams should be firmly in the Top 20 by this point of the season.

Virginia at Notre Dame (3:30, NBC) – The Fighting Irish’s ACC-heavy schedule continues this season (and will for the next 18 years I believe) with a game against the Hoos.  Remember the last time these two teams met?  A last-minute long touchdown pass by the Irish followed by that one fan just hanging over the wall to show his despair.  Many tried to emulate that student in subsequent games in Charlottesville but he was the original.  Anyway, I am sure many college football fans around the country would love to see the Irish faithful look that way after this game.

Washington State at Utah (9:15, specialty pack) – There were a couple of weeks last year where ESPN did not have a 3:30 game and instead ran a 6:00 and 9:15 game instead.  I have a feeling this will be one of those weeks.  Don’t ask me why though since it’s more like “they had one in September last season so I am sure they will have one in September this season”.  As for the two combatants, this should be some really good Pac-12 After Dark action between teams that are looking to make a bigger mark on the conference and win a conference title.

Northwestern at Wisconsin (Noon, ABC) – This feels like your typical early-afternoon Big Ten game.  A lot of offense although much of it will be on the ground.  Great defense, especially on the Wisky side of things.  And potentially a Big Ten West elimination game depending on how these two teams fare the rest of the way.  Should be good.

USC at Washington (7:30, ABC) – The Pac-12 always gets a couple of primetime ABC games and so does the Big XII.  Honestly it sometimes feels weird to put anything other than a Big Ten game there since they get way more games in that timeslot.  I figured this is one of the better games as long as USC is already playing better.  Let’s be honest: if the Trojans aren’t doing well at this point it might be the end for Clay Helton since that shit won’t fly (for very long) in southern California.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: NC State at Florida State (7:00, specialty pack) – Even when the Noles were really good, they seemed to have problems with the Wolfpack.  This becomes potentially one of the more important games of the week if A) NC State doesn’t lose too much with the graduation of Ryan Finley and B) Willie Taggart truly has the Seminoles firing on most, if not all, cylinders.

Best Group of Five Game: Houston at North Texas (8:00, Facebook) – Yes.  Facebook.  We are living in a bit of a new age my friend.  I watched a few minutes of a game on Twitter a couple years back and it wasn’t bad to be honest.  I prefer watching it on TV but sometimes you take what you can get.  Here we have Houston who should once again be trying to usurp UCF as the American Conference’s top dog and North Texas who should, once again, be a contender in Conference USA.  On paper this looks good.  Let’s hope it lives up to that and it will be interesting to see what it’s like to watch a game on Facebook.  I am intrigued I gotta tell ya.

Worst Power Five Game: Wake Forest at Boston College (3:30, specialty pack) – And honestly this isn’t even that bad a game.  It’s just one of those weeks with quite a few decent games but no eye-openers.

Week 6

Game of the Week: Michigan State at Ohio State (7:30, ABC) – There is a small possibility that this moves to FOX at Noon so this, like most of this post, is not set in stone yet.  Two Big Ten East contenders.  Two Big Ten contenders.  Potentially, two CFP contenders.  Now if it does go to FOX, there’s a possibility of seeing GUS JOHNSON lose his voice or have an aneurysm.  Neither of which would be nice to see at all.

Other Really Important Games: Auburn at Florida (7:00, TSN2) – Many would say this should be the game of the week.  And I wouldn’t say you were wrong.  Both teams look good heading into the season and there’s always talk about Gus Malzahn being shitcanned so that is fun for people who like that kind of thing.

Virginia Tech at Miami (3:30, ABC) – Hey remember when these two teams were in the Big East and it was awesome?  Miami is finally back to a level where they are competing for a Top 10 spot and VaTech takes a big dump for a couple years.  This could be the first year in a long time that both teams are very good and should compete for the ACC crown (yes, even with Clemson in the conference).  Ya know, I kind of wish the Big East was back.  It was a fun conference.

Washington at Stanford (7:30, FOX) – The four-team round-robin of doom and destruction for the Pac-12 North (say that five times fast) continues here.  The Pac-12 needs one of those four to just break out and win every game so they don’t look like a terrible conference yet again.  And also it’s not late night so Chris Petersen has to be happy.  Now watch it get moved to like an 11:00 pm timeslot.

Georgia at Tennessee (3:30, CBS) – The “Is Texas Back?” game is now being replaced with the “Is Tennessee back?” game.  And it may be just as annoying.  Despite the fact Florida looks like a bonafide SEC East contender and despite the fact Kentucky, Missouri and South Carolina just need a couple of breaks this season to seriously contend, many college football experts will be telling everyone who will listen how the Vols are the real scary team in the SEC East.  Uh, they have to show it first.  The former Champions of Life need to prove they compete.  This may end up as a game that shouldn’t have been in this section but for now I am going with the fact that Tennessee, at the very least, will be quite improved this season.

Iowa at Michigan (3:30, TSN2) – FOX seems to be taking a back seat to Disney this week with their (predicted) selections.  Then again, they may surprise me and take this game and not Northwestern-Nebraska for their Noon start.  Man, the Pac-12 has to be pissed that FOX said that their best games will be on at Noon.  I am sure, at some point, someone will ask if 9:00 am start times out on the West Coast are feasible.

TCU at Iowa State (3:30, specialty pack) – I would love to have them mic up the coaches for this game.  Not as much for Matt Campbell (he’s a great, young coach with a bright future), but more for Gary Patterson.  I’m sure that guy would be a ton of fun to listen to and he has shown that during those ESPN Super-Duper-MegaCast things.  Plus I am sure some stathead could come up with a metric that shows how much of his voice Gary loses during a game since it sounds like he has bronchitis every time he does an interview after a game.

Texas at West Virginia (4:00, FOX) – These are the times when I wonder if Sportsnet will ever get back into the college football game.  I know they, for some reason, have hockey games on at 2:00.  If they were ever able to push that afternoon game to 3:30 then they could simsub a game from FS1 perhaps (although we all know it would be a simsub of the FOX game instead) at Noon.  Anyway, I am quite interested to see how a Holgorsen-less Mountaineers squad does this year.  They also don’t have Will Grier but that might be less of an issue.  And Texas is (back) Texas.

Northwestern at Nebraska (Noon, FOX) – There are a lot of pretty good games this weekend.  Considering that, it is still only the 7th best week of the college football season.  And only the fifth-best before November.  Oh man I am getting stoked for this season.  So let’s see if Coach Frosty and his merry band of Huskers can improve this season and go to a bowl game or if it has just become the norm in Lincoln to have a team that does not, in any way, resemble those crazy-good teams of the 80s and 90s.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Arizona at Colorado (4:00, Pac-12 Network) – Both of these teams could put a huge monkey wrench in the often-ridiculous Pac-12 South.  And I guess some of you can watch this game if you have the means to watch the Pac-12 Network this year (I am working on that myself).

Best Group of Five Game: UCF at Cincinnati (Friday, 8:00, specialty pack) – This could end up being the game that decides the Group of Five New Year’s Six spot.  UCF is UCF and has been good for a few years now and the Bearcats have had a resurgence under Luke Fickell.  And they get most of the national spotlight on the Friday night so a lot of people will again be reminded that football in the American Conference can be pretty damn good when it doesn’t involve UConn.

Worst Power Five Game: Maryland at Rutgers (3:30, BTN) – Ah Rutgers back in the Rutgers spot.  I might even struggle to put Kansas here with the hiring of Les Miles.  Oregon State is still shitty but less people watch those games because of that damn East Coast bias and the fact that the majority of their games are on a network (Pac-12 Network) that most people in Canada don’t get.  So by default, Rutgers is the garbage juice of the Power Five this season until further notice.

Week 7

Game of the Week: Alabama at Texas A&M (3:30, CBS) – The SEC has a huge week this week.  And this is the biggest game of a huge bunch.  Jimbo might have his Aggies ready to go for this one and Kyle Field should be shaking (literally).  A Bama loss turns the College Football Playoff on its head.  I am sure that will mentioned a few hundred times early on in the game by Brad and Gary.

Other Really Important Games: Florida at LSU (7:00, TSN2) – Basically GOTW 1B to Bama-TAMU’s GOTW 1A.  Considering both of these teams are legitimate dark horse contenders for the CFP and the Gators are in the SEC’s easier division, this should be great and means, at least in the SEC’s mind, they own the late afternoon and early timeslots.  Sometimes it does just mean more, you know what I’m sayin?

Oklahoma vs. Texas (in Dallas) (Noon, FOX) – It’s the God Damn Red River Shootout!  Can we call this Game of the Week 1C?  Sure we can!  I hate the pussified version of the rivalry name because they don’t want you to use the word shoot.  Give me a fucking break.  Such a complete overreaction.  I would like to know the amount of times someone brought that up when they accused of some sort of gun-related violence.  “Yeah officer I wasn’t going to shoot but then I saw the rotten corpse of what used to be the great Cotton Bowl and remembered the Red River Shootout is still played there and I couldn’t help myself so I shot the guy eighteen times.”

Michigan State at Wisconsin (3:30, FOX Sports One) – Every year, FOX Sports One gets at least a couple of games that would easily be candidates for the main FOX network.  They are put there to raise the profile of FS1 and try to get more Americans to add the channel to their cable packages.  Unfortunately that leaves us Canadians out in the cold.  Let’s just be thankful that the College Football Playoff wasn’t moved to FS1.  I have no idea why that would happen but the uproar would be massive.

South Carolina at Georgia (Noon, TSN2) – Man this week is packed with good games.  No wonder it’s the second best week of the college football season (and the best before November).  That this is the fifth-best game of the week says it all.  I am still waiting for South Carolina to finally win the SEC one of these days.  They have been to one SEC Championship, back in 2010, and got absolutely crushed by Auburn.  It would definitely make for a good story if they made it back to Atlanta this year.  Of course the Bulldogs don’t care about good stories and Kirby Smart wants another shot at the top prize after the heartbreaking loss two years ago in the National Championship.

Virginia at Miami (Friday, 8:00, TSN2) – The Hoos are good again!  Helps to have a guy who takes no bullshit, uh, I mean, bull-phooey like Bronco Mendenhall in charge.  He didn’t take long to turn the Cavaliers around but now with guys actually being drafted it will be interesting to see the encore.  Miami has a new QB in oft-transferred Tate Martell.  He was in that Netflix show QB1: Beyond the Lights.  A good show if you want something to watch.

Florida State at Clemson (7:30, ABC) – It is rare that the ABC Primetime game would be this low on the list.  This is more of a classic matchup than the current huge games and rivalries.  Until the Noles prove that they are truly back, this should go down as an easy Clemson win.  But that’s why you play the game (as Clemson fans hark back to their upset loss a while back to Syracuse).

USC at Notre Dame (7:30, NBC) – This feels like a trap game.  For both the Irish and us fans.  First of all, the Irish have to expect to come into this game as the relatively heavy favourites even if the Trojans turn it on to start the season.  Touchdown Jesus has a tougher schedule this season so they can’t take games like this likely or otherwise they can forget the CFB or even the NY6.  As for us fans, this could end up being a primetime blowout which feels like the worst kind of blowout.  The hype coming in gets crushed quickly.  At least this week there are other options during the same timeslot.

Penn State at Iowa (Noon, ABC) – You know what?  I just love that Iowa Wave.  Just wanted to say that.

Sneaky-Good Underrated Game: Syracuse at NC State (Thursday, 8:00, specialty pack) – Rarely does the college football week start of with a really good Thursday nighter.  I mean it’s happened before and these contests are hyped to the tits!  Until Clemson falters, these games will always feel a bit second-rate though but it should be a nice matchup for a Thursday night for sure.

Best Group of Five Game: Cincinnati at Houston (3:30, specialty pack) – I have this down as one of the very few reverse mirrors of the season and one of the very few AAC games on ABC.  Depending on what the other game is (right now I have Michigan-Illinois) we might get this game in our area as the ABC game.  Highly doubtful though.  Possible move to TSN could happen as well and I can’t even guess that at this time.  I am very intrigued to see Drunk Uncle Dana with the Cougs.  I wonder if he parlays this new job into a G5 NY6 spot.

Worst Power Five Game: Louisville at Wake Forest (4:00, specialty pack) – This is around the time the ACC Network will regress like the SEC Network does.  They get the shittier games every week and with a 12-day hold on most of them, there’s almost no chance they get a big game unless a team needs to make an appearance on the network to satisfy one of the criteria.  I feel almost sad that Wake Forest has now appeared in this spot twice.  They aren’t even a bad team.  But when they face teams like North Carolina and Louisville there’s not a whole lot they can do, right?

We are halfway through the season now (with these posts).  14 weeks this year!  WOOHOO!  And remember that networks have the options for 12-day holds on selecting games to show.  This means many of these could be wrong because of that.  That’s who I will blame if this happens.  Not myself.  No sir.

I have not picked up a college football preview magazine yet.  Are there any out?  I haven’t seen any yet but then again I haven’t been in many places that would have them.  I have ordered the Phil Steele magazine (as I have mentioned before) and will probably get Street & Smith’s, Athlon and Lindy’s.  Enough reading for the summer to set me up for college football season which is…still 82 days away.  Ugh.  Have a great week everyone!

It never comes out in the wash – Week 11 College Football TV Schedule

The College Football Playoff rankings came out on Tuesday evening.  And of course there is a spot of controversy.  Not with the Top 6: those really can’t be debated at this point.  It’s 7 through 10 that’s a bit of an issue to some.  LSU being #7 is irking some people.  And not so much about LSU.  It’s about the fact that West Virginia is down at #9 that upsets quite a few people.  What this kind of says is this: any loss to Alabama by any amount is much more respectable than a win over Texas.  The Tigers could have lost by 50 and I have a feeling they still would have been ranked ahead of the Mountaineers.  Fair?  What’s really fair about rankings in college football to begin with?

Also, the idea that this “all comes out in the wash” is bogus.  It never does.  Things don’t correct itself by the end of the season.  Certain programs will be somewhat “protected” by The Committee since to some it may feel weird to rank a team not known for its success (for example, Washington State) over a team that is essentially a blueblood (think LSU).  This will always be the case (or at least most of the time).  That won’t change.  The beauty contest aspect of these rankings will always exist so some teams just have to have more evidence that they are a better team.  All there is to it.

Another point I have to make is that we are in the middle of MACtion.  Great for people watching on TV.  Not so much for people that want to attend these games.  Tuesday night’s game between Kent State and Buffalo was a perfect example.  Not many people there for a team that is now 9-1 and has to still be considered a dark horse contender for the Group of Five spot in the New Year’s Six.  And as I have said before, it is the cost of getting attention on your conference.  The MAC has been doing this for over a decade now.  The Sun Belt now goes in on that as well.  Even the ACC has Thursday night games almost every week of the season.  It isn’t always good for fans but if you want to be on TV nationally sometimes you have to bite the bullet.  Again, this may change with the advent of other platforms but until that happens (and don’t expect it for at least another five years or so) this has to be the way things go.  I’m fine with it for selfish reasons: it means I get football every day for almost a month.  WOOHOO!

Alright let’s get right to the schedule!

Thursday

		US	Canada
NC Central at Bethune-Cookman	7:00 PM
Wake Forest at #14 NC State	7:30 PM

This could end up being a stumbling block for NC State for the New Year’s Six.  Wake Forest is not a team to take likely.  However, if it gets out of hand early I am switching to the Thursday Night Football game.  I can’t believe I am saying that but I will do it.

Friday

		US	Canada
Louisville at #13 Syracuse	7:00 PM
#23 Fresno State at Boise State	10:15 PM

The first game might be over by the end of the first quarter.  I am sure Dino Babers is shooting for 80 points in this game.  The nightcap will be far more entertaining and may eliminate one Group of Five contender if Boise State can get the win.  Would this be considered an upset?  I honestly don’t know.

Saturday Early

		US	Canada
Wisconsin at #20 Penn State	Noon
Ole Miss at Texas A&M	Noon
#10 Ohio State at #18 Michigan State	Noon
South Carolina at #15 Florida	Noon
Lafayette at Army	Noon
Maryland at Indiana	Noon
Illinois at Nebraska	Noon
Navy at #12 UCF	Noon
Tulsa at Memphis	Noon
Vanderbilt at Missouri	Noon
North Carolina at Duke	12:30 PM

Not a whole lot in the early window unless Michigan State can make it a game against Ohio State.  Not sure that will happen but it is in East Lansing and tOSU has struggled as of late.  Wisconsin could give Penn State problems and UCF continues their march to regular season perfection again.  Also, we have an early CBS game which is OK I guess.  It’s obvious CBS does not get the top two picks when this occurs since Ole Miss-TAMU is not the second biggest SEC game this week.  Not even close.

Saturday Afternoon

		US	Canada
Liberty at Virginia	3:00 PM
Oklahoma State at #6 Oklahoma	3:30 PM
#16 Mississippi State at #1 Alabama	3:30 PM
Northwestern at #21 Iowa	3:30 PM
New Mexico at Air Force	3:30 PM
#4 Michigan at Rutgers	3:30 PM
#8 Washington State at Colorado	3:30 PM
Purdue at Minnesota	3:30 PM
Virginia Tech at Pittsburgh	3:30 PM
#11 Kentucky at Tennessee	3:30 PM

A little bit better although thinking Mississippi State will beat Alabama is not a good bet to make (watch them win now).  Bedlam and Wazzu-Colorado could end up being good games.  Don’t sleep on surprising ACC Coastal leader Pitt in their game against Virginia Tech.

As of right now the Liberty-Virginia game is not showing up anywhere but I assume it will be there because they seem to be showing all the FOX Sports Regional ACC games this season.

UPDATE: Liberty-UVA is now appearing on the specialty packs.

Saturday Primetime

		US	Canada
Temple at Houston	7:00 PM
USF at Cincinnati	7:00 PM
#24 Auburn at #5 Georgia	7:00 PM
Miami at Georgia Tech	7:00 PM
Florida State at #3 Notre Dame	7:30 PM
Texas at Texas Tech	7:30 PM
Southern Miss at UAB	7:30 PM
#7 LSU at Arkansas	7:30 PM
#2 Clemson at #17 Boston College	8:00 PM

Two fairly big games in primetime this weekend.  Auburn-Georgia could be good (especially when you consider last year’s outcome).  Boston College could put the College Football Playoff on its ear with a win at home over Clemson.

As for TSN, let’s see what they are showing today from 3:30 on that negates any opportunity to show college football:

• 4 Nations Cup Hockey.  OK that’s fine considering our obsession with any hockey up here.
• NASCAR.  Contractually obligated.  TSN shows a lot of NASCAR so this is fine.
• Tennis.  TSN is really upping their tennis coverage I have noticed.
• Top 10 Playoff Comebacks.  OK this is getting bad now.
• CFL Wired.  What?
• World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.  More hockey.
• Repeat of a Premier League Soccer game.  Seriously?
• SC Top 10 Presents.  This feels so ESPN-like with all this filler.
• SportsCentre, SC, Must See SC.  None of this is must-see I assure you.
• NBA game.  OK I will give them that one.
• More SportsCentre.
• More SC.
• UFC Fight Night with some guy named “The Korean Zombie.”

Honestly, this is a joke.  They could easily fit one more game in.  But no.  This is like Sportsnet showing all the Hockey Night in Canada games again the next day because they have nothing else to show.  Except in this case TSN does have the opportunity to show other live sports (which is the only thing that really moves the needle these days).  Ugh.

Saturday Late Night

		US	Canada
UNLV at San Diego State	10:30 PM
Colorado State at Nevada	10:30 PM
California at USC	10:30 PM

Nothing huge here to be honest although, technically, USC still has a good shot at winning the Pac-12 South.

Games to set your eyeballs on

Clemson at Boston College (8:00, ABC) – At least this is the game with the most hype attached to it.  BC has a chance in the biggest game since some guy named Matt Ryan was quarterback there.  A Clemson victory is kind of ho hum and keeps the Tiger Train rolling.  But if the Eagles win, ho boy this gets interesting.  Plus Steve Addazio could get like a 15-year extension out of it which I am sure no one would complain about in the Boston area.

Auburn at Georgia (7:00, specialty pack) – ALL ABOARD THE GUS BUS!  OK it’s more like a roller coaster or one of those dune buggy rides through the desert.  This has not been smooth for Auburn this year at all.  I don’t really expect Auburn to pull off the upset like they did last season but you never know.  UGA won’t be complacent because they won the SEC East already since any loss probably boots them out of College Football Playoff contention.

Mississippi State at Alabama (3:30, CBS) – I guess I have to put this game here somewhere since it is two ranked teams facing off against each other.  Man if the Bulldogs somehow pull off this upset…it would be such chaos (which I adore in college football).  Doubtful it happens.  I’m starting to wonder how much Brad Nessler drinks after calling games since he has barely had any exciting games since replacing Uncle Verne last year.

Ohio State at Michigan State (Noon, FOX) – Speaking of games where an upset would cause a bit of carnage, here’s one.  Everyone is expecting tOSU to mop the floor with Sparty here.  Then again, it’s in East Lansing, Ohio State isn’t as good this season, and if there’s snow, watch out because things could get weird.  This may be me hoping more than anything that something crazy happens in these top four games.

Wisconsin at Penn State (Noon, ABC) – Let’s see how fucked up the Big Ten West can get.  Their champ might be barely over .500 by the time conference championship week comes around.  Not that none of the teams are good.  Four of them (Wisconsin, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue) are quite good.  But when they beat each other up it causes this.  I would say it’s the same for the ACC Coastal but that is definitely not the case.

Honourable mention: Texas at Texas Tech (7:30, FOX); Northwestern at Iowa (3:30, FOX); Fresno State at Boise State (Friday, 10:15, specialty pack)

Some gambling fun and games

My picks last week were fantastic.  Except for picking Virginia Tech over Boston College and Texas over West Virginia (at least that one was close).  I even called the Pitt win.  Not doing too badly this season.  I hope I haven’t jinxed myself.  Here are this week’s picks.

Ohio State over Michigan State

Penn State over Wisconsin

Iowa over Northwestern

Boise State over Fresno State

Texas over Texas Tech

Georgia over Auburn

Alabama over Mississippi State

Clemson over Boston College

USC over California

USF over Cincinnati

Oklahoma over Oklahoma State

Alright Thursday Night Football so what sad sack teams are playing…wait a minute.  Carolina and Pittsburgh?  It’s funny how since it moved to FOX that the schedule got way better.  I guess CBS and NBC aren’t as important as FOX?  Or maybe FOX just made sure some decent matchups were there most weeks so people would actually watch.  Panthers-Steelers?  That’s a good matchup.  I have a feeling I will end up there anyway considering the college football schedule tonight.

All college football, all Saturday and into Sunday.  Am I crazy?  Possibly.  But remember, we only get this like three months of the year really.  The other nine consist of bowl games, Week Zero, the national championship, some college all-star games and a lot of time without college football.  So I will take the time now to watch knowing I will be doing other things in the non-college football days ahead.  Anyway, enjoy the games everyone!

Wait a second…THAT’S REALIGNMENT’S MUSIC! *cue NWO theme*

Yes we have some realignment news…wait, don’t run away!  Yes realignment was done to death a few years back and especially with the Big XII Deal Or No Deal type expansion process.  I get it.  However, it’s the reality of college sports, especially at the football level.  But this time around it is more geared towards the basketball end of things.  In the end though, it will effect football (potentially) in a myriad of ways.  So let’s begin.

The Mountain West wants Gonzaga.  There, I said it.  Gonzaga has dominated the West Coast Conference better than any team has dominated their conference in college basketball ever.  Period.  They are the West Coast Conference basically.  So let’s be honest: the Zags are leaving the WCC for the MWC.  Whether that happens for the next season I don’t know but they have three months to decide (and will probably want to do it before then).  The Mountain West is also talking to some other schools to see if they should expand further.  One school that may or may not be in this mix (depending on what you read) is BYU.  Ah, the Cougars.  Independence looked great for them.  They were a solid #2 behind Notre Dame in college football’s Independent ranks up until recently.  Now, Army may have reached their level (debatable) or BYU has dropped below them (also debatable).  Either way you slice it, BYU’s football has taken a downward trend recently.  But the rest of their sports are in the WCC.  This is where this all really comes into play.  BYU might not want to be stuck in the WCC without Gonzaga (and potentially Saint Mary’s who may also be getting a look).  The WCC without Gonzaga is not a good conference.  At least now.  It may be a decade from now but not now.  So would BYU want to go back to the Mountain West?  Here seems to be the options for BYU:

1. Stay as a college football independent and in the WCC for basketball (and all other sports).  Being an independent is hard these days, especially with the New Year’s Six not giving them access to the G5 spot (which sounds like mid-major porn).  They would be a big fish in a much smaller WCC pond but could continue to struggle with football.
2. Go back to the MWC in football only and keep all other sports in the WCC.  They might prefer this option but will the Mountain West accept that or force BYU’s hand.  All or nothing?
3. All.  Everything back to the Mountain West.

In my opinion, I believe BYU has to swallow its pride and at least discuss a return to the Mountain West, even if it’s just for football.  Otherwise they will be stuck out in no-man’s-land so to speak with no bowl tie-ins and no NY6 possibilities.  The other issues that come up with this are the potential for UTEP and New Mexico State to also join the MWC.  If that’s the case, they would have their 14 football schools and wouldn’t need BYU.  At that point, BYU would have to be paired with yet another football school for it to make sense for the Mountain West.  Somewhat confusing but hopefully soon enough (maybe as early as the Final Four) we will get more news on this…at least it pertains to Gonzaga.  Then the dominoes can fall in some way after that.

Now this whole realignment talk makes me look back at a subject I have wanted to tackle for a while and never did until now because it’s a lengthy one.  Yep, it’s another What-if Post!  This time: What if the Southwest Conference never disbanded?  Oof.  Alright then.

The math here is basically 2+2=5 but no matter.  The Big 8 invited four members of the old SWC to form the Big XII.  That’s what we know.  But the entire demise started way before that.  Really it begins in the 80s and peaks with the death penalty given to SMU.

That penalty (which, let’s be honest, should have either not been given as harshly or been given to a few other programs in recent memory) essentially killed the Southwest Conference.  It just took another decade to finally bury the corpse.  So let’s say SMU doesn’t get the death penalty but a fairly harsh one.  Enough that it makes for a difficult 1987 and puts the other conference teams on notice.  What this wouldn’t have done is keep Arkansas.  The SEC wanted to expand as soon as the Big Ten was making a play for Penn State.  And Arkansas was one of the six options for SEC expansion and pretty much at the top of the list.  So Arkansas is gone and the SWC is down to 8 teams.  Making the conference stronger, however, could have done one of two things:

1. Kept these eight together for a long time with perhaps an expansion or two in the decade or two following, or
2. Had the best from the SWC merge with the best of the Big 8 to create a conference but probably not with 12 teams or not in the way they ended up merging in the first place.

So let’s be perfectly honest here: there is no way they keep the eight they had unless they expand heavily since Rice was never going to be able to compete (and never really did being the Vanderbilt of the group and that is even stretching it).  SMU is another story.  Since they are in the Metroplex, I think the lack of death penalty would have at least kept them competitive for bowl games for a while.  And remember: at various times, Baylor and Houston were Top 25 teams in the decade after the death penalty occurred.  So let’s say they expand.  The question is when and where.  This is when it becomes super complicated.

So probably through 1996, everything happens the way it would have.  The big realignment of 1997 would not have happened…at least at this point; however, it would have been a matter of time before the SWC did something since they knew with the way TV contracts were going, having such a small conference footprint would have been the death of the conference eventually.  What they would have done is two-fold.  First, get rid of the dead-weight schools.  Rice would have been a goner.  No way they can continue to compete.  Plus with Houston already in the conference, they have that area covered.  One of TCU or SMU is probably also gone.  You can make a case for either one to stay but both couldn’t stay because really the Metroplex barely needed one major conference team so two would have been out of the question.  So let’s drop SMU for this exercise.  That leaves this:

• Texas
• Texas A&M
• TCU
• Baylor
• Houston
• Texas Tech

Honestly…not bad.  In the late 90s would have been the time to be aggressive before some former WAC-offs decided to meet in a (probably) sleazy Motel 6 and start a new conference.  So the choices to join the new “super-sized” Southwest Conference would have been:

• BYU.  Yes it’s not southwest in any sense but BYU at the time was still a hot ticket for football.
• Tulane.  To keep that (somewhat) southwest feel by including a state that is beside Texas.
• New Mexico and UTEP.  I think these two would have been kind of joined at the hip at this point.
• Wyoming and Colorado State.  This is more of the bridge (of sorts) from Texas to BYU through these two schools.

A fairly decent conference that probably would have seen at least two of these teams (BYU and one other) become fairly prominent Power Five-like football teams.  It also keeps the Big Eight from doing anything and pushes the WAC and Big West, possibly, into some sort of unholy alliance.  I also believe this would have kept some conferences’ footprints (I am looking straight at you WAC) from getting totally out of hand…at least until ESPN came along and threw a bunch of money at someone and we then have San Diego State to the Big East or something else as foolish.  Otherwise, this probably turns out better for many schools involved.  So this is what it would look like as of the start of the new millennium for the effected conferences (I excluded the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, MAC, Pac-10 and SEC since they would not have changed from what they were before the 2000 season):

SWC	WAC	Conference USA	Big West	Big 8
Texas	Air Force	Louisville	Boise State	Kansas State
Texas A&M	UNLV	East Carolina	Utah State	Nebraska
Texas Tech	Utah	Cincinnati	Idaho	Iowa State
Houston	San Diego State	Southern Miss	New Mexico State	Colorado
Baylor	Fresno State	UAB	North Texas	Kansas
TCU	San Jose State	Memphis	Arkansas State	Missouri
BYU	Tulsa	Army		Oklahoma
Tulane	Rice			Oklahoma State
New Mexico	Hawaii
UTEP	SMU
Wyoming	Nevada
Colorado State

That’s…that’s quite a bit different than what actually happened.  I honestly wouldn’t know what to do with the WAC and Big West at this point.  My guess is, potentially a few years later, the Big 8 or SWC would pick up two members and force these conferences to merge.  Also remember that the Sun Belt was on the brink of sponsoring football at the Division 1-A level in a couple of years which would provide a whole other wrinkle.  In the end, the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-10 and SEC would look at this and stay as far away as possible (for the time being).  OK so maybe realignment isn’t so bad…sometimes.  I’m lying…it almost always sucks these days.

Alright we are done with that.  That post was kind of long and meandered a bit.  In the end I think I determined the Southwest Conference deserved to die.  Don’t know why though.  All I know is it may have caused less problems by dissolving.  Next up will be my final mock draft sometime in April.  Then it’s the actual draft and I can start posting semi-regularly again.  Ugh I hate this time of year.  Enjoy your short work week everyone!

We were so close to maximum chaos – Week 11 College Football Recap

And then this guy’s team had to destroy that.  But man it was close.

Mississippi State couldn’t close out Bama.  If they had though, it would have been, arguably, the biggest shakeup at the top in college football history.  It had been not since 1966 that the top three teams lost in the same weekend and that was during bowl season.  So this would have been unprecedented.

It started with Auburn beating Georgia senseless.  It continued with Miami laying the smackdown on Notre Dame.  And then we came within less than a minute of a potential upset.  But it shows that there really aren’t any truly dominant teams this season for the first time since (dare I say it?) 2007.  On top of that, Oklahoma beat TCU and Stanford upset Washington.  All-in-all, it was a chaotic weekend.  Not maximum chaos.  But a good amount of chaos for sure.

Before I get into the CFB recap, let me talk about a couple of Canadian items.

• I see the AUS Hardy Cup final between Acadia and Saint Mary’s was cancelled when Saint Mary’s was found to have an ineligible player.   Why did it take this long into the season?  I’m sorry but CIS…sorry, USports, has become a joke.  No one watches it.  No one even knows what’s going on with it.  It’s pathetic.  Especially when you compare it to what it was even five years ago.  People would actually talk about CIS, sorry…USports and not in a negative way.  Since it is almost never on TV (and I am sure almost no one watches it online) then it’s like it doesn’t exist almost.  Maybe it’s time the football teams looked at the NCAA.  Not that the NCAA is great or anything but it has to be better than this.
• Can someone explain to me why the 4^th place team in the West gets to play the 2^nd place team in the East in the CFL Playoffs when the 3^rd place team in the West has to have a tougher game against the 2^nd place team in the West? That makes no sense.  You are punishing a team for being better?  Give me a break.  The only teams that should get automatic berths are the division winners and that’s it.  The next four teams should be based on record alone.  This way the right teams would get home field for the first round and a team wouldn’t be punished for having a better record.

OK got that off my chest.  NOW on to the recap.

Recap

• With all the insanity happening in the top ten this past Saturday, who benefitted most? You could argue it was Wisconsin who needed some dominoes to fall at some point to move into true contention despite their undefeated record.  They beat Iowa and now face Michigan in their last true test before the Big Ten Championship which will probably be against Ohio State.  Win out and they are in, they shouldn’t worry about that.  But one loss and who knows how far they will fall.
• Clemson will also move up as well although everything comes down to their ACC Championship matchup with Miami that is set now. The Tigers actually struggled for more than three quarters against Florida State but pulled away for the easy victory.  As for the Noles, they have to win out now to become bowl-eligible.  With their toughest game against Florida, it may happen.
• So now will Auburn become the College Football Playoff’s first two-loss team? It could happen.  Especially if they upset Alabama in the Iron Bowl.  There are a few two-loss teams who will get consideration if Bama and Miami both falter before the end of the season.
• It looks like instead of Mark Richt facing his old team in the CFP, he might just be chosen over his old team for the last spot, depending on what happens from here on in. The Canes can afford to lose if it’s against Clemson in the ACC Championship and it’s really close.  The Committee might still put them in if the 5^th best team is a long way down from #4 going into Conference Championship Week.
• Oklahoma and TCU will probably end up facing each other again in the Big XII Championship unless the Horned Frogs blow a gasket before then. TCU getting revenge on the Sooners would be devastating to the Big XII when it comes to the CFP because Oklahoma is really their only true chance (at this point).  And here I was almost writing them off weeks ago.  Silly Bossman.
• Oh and during that big Big XII matchup, Baker Mayfield probably wrapped up the Heisman unless he plays terrible the rest of the way. This is what happens when all the contenders fall off completely around Halloween time.
• The Pac-12 is pretty much eliminated now from the College Football Playoff. Not good for a conference that complains about when their games are on TV.
• Could the Ohio State freakin’ Buckeyes somehow get back into the CFP race?   Two big games to finish their year (after next week’s snoozer against Illinois).  If Michigan can pull off the upset over Wisky next week and tOSU runs the table, this is a distinct possibility.
• Georgia Tech upset Virginia Tech, assuring the Yellow Jackets a bowl game again this season. It’s too bad that a 9-3 season could be considered a disappointment for Justin Fuente’s club but that’s the way it’s looking.
• Oh wait, why didn’t I start with this…BUTCH JONES HAS BEEN SHITCANNED! It took Tennessee long enough to do this.  Well, he will always have last season’s Champions of Life…and probably a boatload of cash from a buyout.
• UCF won Civil ConFLiCT over UConn. I mean no one cares except possibly still Bob Diaco.  UCF has USF and then probably Memphis and I honestly wonder if they can pull off that Daily Double.  If they can, the New Year’s Six spot is theirs, no questions asked.  If they lose one of those two games, things get real interesting.
• Or not. Basically, unless insanity happens, the AAC winner gets to go to the Peach Bowl.  With Toledo laying an egg about a week ago, no other conference really has a team that can even come close to what UCF, USF or Memphis has done this season.
• Even with Boise State’s incredible 25-point comeback to beat Colorado State, I can’t foresee a scenario where the Broncos would get the NY6 spot. Unless they go off of reputation which is totally possible.
• USC clinched the Pac-12 South with their win over Colorado. Considering how many have talked about how disappointing the Trojans have been this season, this is still a good feat.  Not as good as the hype (especially with Sam Darnold) but still good.  Colorado now has to beat Utah to go bowling.

We are now getting into the real important part of the season.  OK wait I was talking about two weekends from now.  This next weekend, in terms of college football, sucks.  It really does.  Not nearly as good as most other weeks of the season.  SEC Sleepwalk Saturday I have coined it and I implore ESPN to do the same.  Anyway, here’s my Top 25 so I don’t have to think about this coming Saturday too much:

#1	Alabama
#2	Miami
#3	Oklahoma
#4	Clemson
#5	Auburn
#6	Wisconsin
#7	Ohio State
#8	Georgia
#9	Oklahoma State
#10	USC
#11	Notre Dame
#12	UCF
#13	TCU
#14	Washington State
#15	Penn State
#16	Washington
#17	Michigan
#18	Stanford
#19	Memphis
#20	Mississippi State
#21	LSU
#22	USF
#23	West Virginia
#24	Michigan State
#25	NC State

My Top 4 seems to match most people’s Top 4.  Wisconsin sitting in the weeds at #6, waiting to move up.  Auburn with a huge move up the rankings but without a win over Bama, this means nothing.  Oh, and Ohio State is at #7.  The next three weeks are gonna be fun.

Alright, Monday Night Football tonight in a game that more people may watch than last night’s game.  I could have predicted the Pats winning when I saw the schedule for Week 10.  It’s sad that the Dolphins are getting another primetime game and it’s more watchable than most of the games this week.  The last quarter of the season cannot come soon enough.

Also, we got some more MACtion tomorrow night!  Ohio-Akron and Central Michigan-Kent State are on the specialty pack Tuesday night.  Actually all the games (except one) up until Friday are appearing in the guide.  A good sign…I hope.

Tomorrow we got some bowl projections (which aren’t early anymore).  Thursday the shittiest week in college football this season and its TV schedule.  Finally, the NFL gets the sked treatment on Friday.  Enjoy your week (and the games) everyone!

 

Surprises and Disappointments of CFB season so far – 2017 version

 

I’ve done this before.  In various formats.  To fill in the time (and show how bad some of my predictions ended up being), let’s look at the surprises and disappointments of this college football season.  We will start with the disappointments so we can end on a nice note 🙂

Disappointments

Florida – Wow did I ever shit the bed on this one.  Saying that, the SEC East looked rather weak and one team had to go to the SEC Championship from there right?  Many did pick Florida to win the division so I am not alone there.  But man no one could have predicted the dumpster fire that has happened in Gainesville.  What a nightmare for Gators fans.

Florida State – Let’s stay in the state of Florida shall we?  Abso-freaking-lutely nobody predicted this.  Even Seminoles haters would have probably put them at like 8-4 or something.  But once Deondre Francois went down with a season-ending injury, the wheels fell off, rolled away, and burst into flames.  Now they have rescheduled the game against ULM that they lost in hopes that they would be coming in 5-6 and have a chance at a bowl game.  How fucking pathetic.  The only good thing that may come out of this is that ULM gets paid a bunch of money to show up.  Hopefully the Warhawks mop the floor with FSU and put them out of their misery.

FOX (kind of) – FOX has both stepped up and disappointed.  They have stepped up with more games on the main network this season.  Nice.  Everyone up here appreciates it.  However, last weekend showed they have a long way to go.  What a shitshow.  I get that it wasn’t their fault about the weather but they seemed to botch everything after that delay started.  What a joke.  Oh wait, I should add something to this disappointment…

All Canadian telcos – You know what?  Fuck you guys.  Bring in FOX Sports One on the specialty packs.  You know we will gladly pay more for it.  And then they wonder why people go to illegal means to get any sort of television program.  These shitbags are all about money and care not one bit for the consumer.  To say otherwise is an outright lie.

Conference USA – A lot of people got on my case for calling this conference a “hodge-podge of crap.”  Well, it kind of is.  Their best team will probably end up going 8-4 (and will be either FAU or North Texas).  They pale in comparison to the other four Group of Five conferences.  And their TV coverage is a joke.  They really do have to get their act together because they are falling to the bottom of the pecking order, fast.

Tennessee – Should I include this here?  I think I should.  The Vols have been much worse than we thought they would be.  How Butch Jones has kept his job is beyond me and most others (and is the same question asked every week it seems).  For this season, at least, there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.  Or maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel.  But that light is a train.

BYU – Maybe I overrated the Cougars a bit but holy crap.  Seriously?  That’s what you get for introducing caffeine on-campus.  (Full disclosure: I love caffeine.  Too much actually.  Not quite addicted but you could make the argument.)

Surprises

The Arizonas – Let’s group them both here.  Have they turned around their programs quickly or what?  Todd Graham is finally getting the Sun Devils to play well again after a couple years near the bottom of the Pac-12 South.  As for the Wildcats, Khalil Tate is the West Coast Heisman winner.  That’s already been clinched.  Whether he wins the actual Heisman is another story but he has been a revelation in Tucson.

Iowa State (and Matt Campbell) – Matt Campbell is a good head coach.  We all know that.  We also know Iowa State is a tough place to coach at since they are usually in the bottom tier of the Big XII.  What they have done this year (upset two Top 5 teams) is nothing short of amazing.  It would be nice if Campbell could make this program a contender on a yearly basis.  But we all know that what this means is that Campbell is going to possibly be the next head coach at Florida.

Notre Dame – Look I knew they would be above .500 this season.  But that was it.  I wasn’t going to commit to anymore than that.  But they have totally exceeded expectations.  They now sit in the Top 4 of the College Football Playoff poll and if they win out they are a shoo-in to go to the Big Dance.  Meaning Brian Kelly will get the mother of all contract extensions if that happens (and he may get that anyway).

UCF – This team has been fun to watch and Scott Frost deserves a lot of the credit for that.  They are a few wins away from doing what many thought impossible, and that’s going to the New Year’s Six.  Frost is another guy who will, unfortunately for UCF fans, out the door I am sure before next season begins to greener pastures.

South Carolina – This almost comes by default thanks to implosions elsewhere in their division but the Gamecocks have quietly become the second best team in the SEC East.  Got to give WILL MUSCHAMP! credit for this, especially with the injury issues the team has had to overcome so far this season.

ACC (except Florida State) – The ACC, as a whole, has been the best conference in college football this season.  Every team still has a shot to go bowling as we head into the final three weeks of the regular season.  I mean it won’t happen but wouldn’t it be something if all the teams in the ACC made bowl games…except Florida State?  That would be crazy.  Next step for them: scrap the stupid division names.  Do it north and south.  I get that Clemson and Miami and Florida State would be in the same division.  But Virginia Tech and Louisville would be together, along with one of the North Carolina schools (just pick NC State).  So it’s not like they would be the much weaker division every season.

I just can’t wait to do my end-of-the-season post about how far off I was on my projections.  Sure to be fun right?  I’ll make sure to stock up at the LCBO before that.

More MACtion tonight!  As of this morning (around 7:00), nothing is actually showing on the specialty pack for Bell.  The Super Sports Pack at least has it in their guides.  There’s also a game on CBS Sports Network.  It’s that fun time of the year folks!  Well, it’s fun when the games are relatively close.  Otherwise it almost feels like not-must-watch TV.  Enjoy the games everyone!